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Who Will Sing Their Songs? Women Judges and the Power of Judicial Storytelling

Author

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  • J. Jarpa Dawuni

    (Howard University)

Abstract

This chapter sets the theoretical and methodological framework for the book, providing a review of the existing scholarship on gender and judging viz-a-viz the lived realities of 16 women judges across Africa. As the framing chapter for the book, it sets the context for documenting the life of the individual woman judge through her voice, agency, and personal reflection. These accounts begin from childhood through adulthood and to life on the bench, thereby weaving the historical with the current to paint a mosaic that will outlive the judges’ oral narration of the sequence of their life events. By diving deeper into the lives of women judges, the chapter shifts the focus from women’s symbolic representation and draws closer to the lives of the humans behind the black robe. It focuses on substantive representation by bringing to life the contributions of the women who sit on the bench. It opens a window into what goes on in their lives before, during, and after the bench. In the courtroom, judges listen more than talk; the chapter flips the equation by centering the judge as the storyteller of their life experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • J. Jarpa Dawuni, 2025. "Who Will Sing Their Songs? Women Judges and the Power of Judicial Storytelling," Gender, Development and Social Change,, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:gdechp:978-3-031-72275-2_1
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-72275-2_1
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